And Then There Were... None

Our numbers are dwindling!! :(

The program officially ends in twelve hours or so, but Adam left yesterday afternoon to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with his dad, and Peter left this morning to work in the national parks in Alaska. Nick and I are the next two to leave, tomorrow morning at 11 am for Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

The others all depart soon after: Jenn is heading to Cape Town, Allie's meeting her parents in Jo'burg, Stevie's waiting for her dad to come to Gabs, Candice has to get back to graduate from PLU in four days, Maya's hoping to work for an orphanage somewhere in Botswana, Aaron is traveling somewhere yet to be determined, Alexa's going to be chopping down trees in the mountains of New England, and... well, everyone is splitting off in a million different directions, either to go home, to travel, or to get to work.

So yeah, I'll be in South Africa until May 25th. That means I'll be totally out of contact because obviously, neither my American nor Botswana cell phone will work there. Probably I won't be internetting either because I'll be spending all my time gazing at gorgeous mountains and beaches and national forests.

And then my plans for the next week? I have to finish my ISP write-up. That's right; I'm not done yet. Simba's computer decided to corrupt my file two days ago and I had to start over COMPLETELY. For an approximately 40-50 page paper, that's no small deal. Luckily I am coming back to Gabs after Cape Town, so I can turn it in any time before I leave for the US.

I also plan on visiting my Otse family during my 5 days back in Gabs. We went today after ISP presentations, but my mom had gone into town and wasn't home. I had brought some of my clothes and stuff to donate and gave them instead to my aunt, Liz's mom. She was so pleased! One of the things I donated was my adorable brown and pink dress--the one that, according to Liz and Dana, was "my identity" for these past 4 months. I did love that dress and thought about keeping it, but when Liz's mom pulled it out of the bag, she smiled in recognition (did I really wear it that much??) and said, "Oh, this is for Vanessa." And that thought makes me so happy. I love imagining my little 8-year-old sister wearing the sundress, which will still be a little too big for her. She's the best person to wear it. Vanessa's such a little diva and I love her for it!